Improvement in turbine water-wheels



@anni @ibitza idntd tatw 'JAMES J. EAULENER; or MCMINNVILLE, TENNESSEE.

Letters Patent N 99,548, dated Feb/mary s, 1870.

The Schedule -referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame. t

To whom it ymay concern: i

Beit known that I, J AMES J. FAULKNER, 0f Mc- Minnville, Warren county,Tennessee, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Turbine Wheels;and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,making part of this speciication.

Myinvention relates to a parallel-dow turbine,`

which has two wheels, the one immediately beneath the other, andlreceiving the water therefrom, and turning in an opposite directionthereto.

The water, in passing through the upper wheel, has avcircular lnotionimparted to it, which motion is utilized in turning the lower wheel.

Figure 1 is a side elevation (partially in section) of my improvedturbine.v

Figure 2 isa plan, showing the arrangement of gate and water-ways.

A is a peustock, to whose frame-work is attached the case B of theturbine, by means of an annular' angle-iron, C, and bolts D.

Spanning the bottom of the case B, is the bridge` piece E, whichsupports the step F, upon which rests the lower end of the verticalshaft G.

The lower wheel or turbine H is attached to the shaft G, the said shaftextending upward, and being jourualed at fi to the' be-.nu l'.

rlhe shaft G carries a bevel cog-wheel, J, which engages the top of asimilar pinion, l, upon the shaft- L, by which power i-s communicated toany desired machinery, by a belt upon pulley M, or otherwise.

The upper turbine wheel N is attached to a 'tubular shaft, o, concentricwith the shaft G.

This shaft o has a lower journal-bearing in boxes 'r, secured tocross-beam, It, of the penstock-frame.

The upper end of the tubular shaft o carries a bevel-cog wheel, S,engaging with the lower side of pinion K.

The water-ways or chutes T descend obliquely downward, in such directionas to give a somewhat tangential impulse to the water iu its descent,and cause'it to impinge nearly at right angles` upon the face of theupper part ofthe buckets U of the upper wheels N, and the water owingdown the said buckets has an opposite circular Amotion imparted to it,and strikes the bucketsX of the lower wheel in a manuel' similar to thatin which it impinges on the buckets of lthe upper wheel, thus utilizingthe circular motion imparted to the water by the'upper wheel.

The buckets do not project in lines radial to the wheel, butimlinestangential to a circle within the circumference of the wheel, inclin'ngsomewhat backward from a radialdirection, so as to direct the waterrather inward Vthan outward, which latter would be the case ifthe'buckets were radial in direction.

The gate V, by whose movement the ow of water to the wheel is governed,consists of au annular plate, which lies upon the top plate of the case,and has apertures W, coincidimg with the chutes or water-ways T in thetop of the case, so that by the partial revolution ,of the gate, vthechutes may be wholly opened or closed, or may be partially opened, asdesired. 1 rIhe gate is movedA by means o f a cog-rack, c, with whichmeshes-the cog-wheel .y upon a shaft, Y, whose upper end carries ahand-wheel, c by which the said shaft is turned. l

The gate is held in position by cleats or studs, one of which, c', actsas a stop to the movement of the gate, by means of shoulders at the'opposite ends of f a segmental recess, in theinterior circumference ofIt will be seen that the shaft G rests upon the step-bolt F, and may bevertically adjusted thereby, but the tubular shaft O is supportedirrespective of the step, and is not intended to come in Contact withthe shaft G in any part, but is supported, by its upper end, either uponthe hub of the wheel S and box v', or upon a collar of the shaft beneaththe said wheel, which collar rests upon the box 1'.

The tubular shaft may, if preferred, be supported by a collar upon it,which would rest-upon the raised part b of the top plate of the case- B,the said raised partb forming the lower journal-bearing ofthe'shaft 0.

The step may, if preferred, be supported on a spideu in lieu of thesingle straight bridge-piece described.

The first water-deectors or chutes are necessarily fixed, but the seconddeflection of the. water is accomplished whilepassing through the upperwheel, and thus a gain is made of the power which would otherwise belost in friction of the wat-er against fixed deiecting-plates or chutes.

Still another supplementary and reversely-actiug turbine may beintroduced below the turbine H, the shaft of the turbine H then being,like that of N, in the form of a sleeve or tube.

I claim herein as new, and of my invention- The arrangement (byconcentric shafts, geared above the water-level in the manner set forth)of oppositelyrevolving turbines, one below and receiving water from theother, the said wheels having similar but reterselydirected buckets,whichextend outwardly, in lines taugential to a circle within thecircumference of the wheel, and inclined somewhat backward toward theirouter edge, so as to counteract the centrifugal tendency of the water,as described, in combination with Witnesses:

Asa FAULKNER, GEO. H. KNIGHT.

